


Tis the Season

by LarirenShadow



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/M, Makorra Week 2013, makorra week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-28
Packaged: 2018-01-05 16:46:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1096247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LarirenShadow/pseuds/LarirenShadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Right before Korra reached the door to leave the room she’d been given she heard a deep feminine voice say “or you could talk to me.”  Korra froze instantly.  She couldn’t be hearing what she thought she was.  Maybe it was a trick. Makorra Week Day 7 Light</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Masquerade

She hated him. She really truly did. She definitely did not have feelings for him. No, not at all. This whole thing was just so he could throw Zolt off his track. That’s all their relationship was. 

She had not begun to actually enjoy their kisses nor had she ever felt butterfly-wasps in her stomach. It was indigestion from his cooking. 

She kicked the edge of his couch in frustration. The idiot was currently off infiltrating Zolt’s hideout while terribly disguised with a fake mustache. Beifong asked for more info and he happily made her be his fake alibi while he went to get it. Like being his fake girlfriend wasn’t enough.

His phone rang and she debated about picking it up. Two rings in she decided that “staying the night” meant she had every right to answer. “Hello, Mako’s residence,” she said way to happily into the phone.

“Put Mako on the phone,” Beifong grunted.

“He’s not here right now, I believe he’s out on your request.” Silence greeted her snappy comment.

“Go get him now.”

“Look Chief I’m sorry but he’s out and you know he is-”

“GO GET HIM, AVATAR, BEFORE I ROUGH YOU UP!” Korra held the receiver away from ear as Beifong shouted.

“Why should I do that?” Korra asked angrily.

“Because Tarrlok’s task force is going to raid Zolt’s hideout and I need spy to not be on Tarrlok’s list now I don’t care what you do to get him out but do it and do it quickly!” Korra did not feel her heart skip a beat at those words and she did not gasp. 

“Where do I have to go?” She asked.

A half hour later she was dressed in a pair of Mako’s pants, his spare jacket, and her hair under one of his hats, Korra dropped through the basement window of the building that Beifong swore was Zolt’s current hideout. She looked both ways down the corridor before deciding that right was the better option (it was slightly lighter down that hallway). She crept slowly, expecting a trip wire or for one of Zolt’s muscle to jump out and accost her. 

She began to hear murmuring and the light grew brighter. The hallway opened to a crowded room, Zolt in the center presiding over a table and gesticulating over some paper spread out on it. There were other tables around, a few with Equalist gloves, while others had more papers on them. One even had a few piles of yuans on it. She quickly spotted Mako in the crowd gathered around Zolt. 

Korra quickly made her way over to the table. “Are we planning a new caper?” She asked gruffly into Mako’s ear.

“I’m not sure buster, but I’ll let you know,” he said without looking at her.

“I need to know now,” she hissed as she grabbed his arm.

“Not now doll,” he said through clenched teeth. She watched his eyes go wide as he slowly turned to look at her. “What are you doing here?” He hissed.

“We need to leave, now.” 

“Miss me that much?” he teased. 

“Not now, Tarrlok’s task force is going to case the joint tonight and Beifong doesn’t want your mug splashed across the papers in the morning.” She tugged on his sleeve as she spoke.

“One minute, I,” he paused, “I have to warn Zolt.”

“What?” She shrieked. Everyone turned to look at the pair.

“Does the boy have something to share with the rest of us?” Zolt drawled.

Mako cleared his throat. “Actually yes,” he smirked. “My friend here has come to warn me that Tarrlok’s task force is going to raid the joint tonight.”

“Is that true boy?” Korra nodded, she was pretty sure her fake male voice wasn’t going to fool anyone. “Earthbenders tunnels now!” Zolt shouted.

Korra grabbed Mako’s arm as the ground swallowed them up. “Scared?”

“Shut your yap. Let’s just make it this without getting caught then you can thank me.”

He smirked. “Like I didn’t have everything under control.” He lit a flame in his hand and held it high. 

“Good thinking Lee,” Zolt called from ahead. Mako nodded and gripped Korra’s upper arm. “All right men, follow me.”

“What about the boys in the other rooms?” one of the other men called.

“Tarrlok has to catch someone,” Zolt said as he began walking. “Move out!” The earthbenders stomped their feet and the tunnel expanded. 

They walked together towards the back of the group. “You’re telling me everything as soon as we’re safe,” Mako said. Korra nodded, not sure she really wanted to tell Mako everything (like how she really had not felt giddy when he agreed to come with her.

Soon the tunnel opened to the docks. Zolt clapped everyone on the back as they left their underground escape. Mako tightened his grip on Korra as they neared Zolt and kept his head down. “You,” Zolt said, “how did you know?”

“Uh,” Korra began. “Well, see, I know where Tarrlok goes for tea.”

Zolt eyed her up and down. “Keep this boy close, Lee, we’re going to need him in the future. Bring him to the usual meeting place, we could use a kid like him.” Mako nodded and dragged Korra towards to road.

He hailed a cab and instructed them to go to his apartment building. They sat in silence as the cab meandered through the city streets. They marched up to his apartment and Mako throw open the door and shoved Korra inside.

“What were you thinking when you barged in there?” He yelled.

“That Beifong called and didn’t want you in trouble! I had to go rescue you-” Korra responded with equal irritation.

“I don’t need some dame rescuing me-”

“I didn’t want to have to rescue you but I can’t let your sorry behind end up behind bars!”

He opened his mouth to retort but quickly closed it. She watched him slowly smile. “Ah that’s what this is all about. You’ve developed a little crush on me.”

“I have not! We’re just pretending to be together because, because,” she trailed off. “Wait a minute, Zolt hasn’t bothered me for weeks.”

Mako shrugged. “What can I say? Lee has been very persuasive when he wants to be.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Zolt now knows he doesn’t need the Avatar in his back pocket. He may or may not come and threaten you again but he’s convinced you’re too weak to be of any use.”

Korra crossed her arms over her chest. “Then why have you kept on insisting we keep dating.”

“The same reason you keep agreeing, sweetheart.” Korra glared at Mako and tried very hard to not feel hopeful.

“And what reason would that be?”

Mako stalked up to her. “The reason why you’ve stopped pulling away from my kiss,” he said as he bent down to kiss her. Korra let herself go as she wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer. Mako pulled away first. “This is why we keep pretending, because we don’t want to admit it’s become real.”

Korra nodded, knowing she was already head over heels in love.


	2. Lyrical

Mako was not checking up on Korra. He knew (deep down) that she could handle being alone with their daughter. Nothing would happen to either of them. He tried to tell that to the little voice inside his head that filled his mind with all the terrible things that could happen to them while he wasn’t there.

This voice was the reason Beifong gave him almost two months off after Korra gave birth. That and an irate and sleep deprived Avatar threatening her because she needed help with the baby. 

To appease the voice Mako was currently sneaking into his apartment to see how the two were holding up on his first day back to work. He carefully crept down his own hallway, mindful of the board the squeaked. 

As he neared the nursery’s he heard a sound he’d never thought he’d hear. It sounds slightly like a buzzing in his ear but he likes it. He crept around the door and saw Korra bouncing their daughter in her arms while making the sound. Mako stared transfixed as leaned against the doorframe.

“What are you doing?” He asked quietly.

Korra jumps slightly and their daughter scrunches up her face like she’s going to cry. Korra quickly shushes her and the little face relaxed. “It’s something the women of my Tribe do during the long winters. They form pairs and try to out last the other in throat singing. My mom taught me because I couldn’t go learn with the other girls. And I’ll teach my daughter.”

“Just as long as she doesn’t challenge anyone to a contest.”

Korra smirked as she turned towards Mako. “You know she’d win. Now stop checking on us and get back to work before I get an angry call from Beifong about you abandoning your desk.”

Mako came over to kiss both his girls goodbye. “Listen to Mommy as she teaches you how to do this because I want you to win all those contests, ok?” The baby cooed in response.

~*~*~

Korra trudged home after attending a lengthy debate about what to do with the land around the new (well, less than a decade old) spirit forest. There were a few businesses that seemed determined to build there while the spirits themselves came to protest. The four hours of trying to avoid spirit possessions and ease hostilities made her want to curl up in bed while simultaneously setting fire to every chair in the room.

Now she was headed home to a hopefully not still colicky baby (Katara had assured Korra on the phone that most babies get this and you just have to wait it out). Maybe her daughter would be asleep and she could get a quick nap in before the inevitable late night wake up call. Not that she would trade any of this for the world but she still wanted a little bit of sleep in her life.

The sight that greeted her when she opened the door made everything worth it. Mako was lying on his back on the couch, one hand gently stroking their daughter’s back as she lay on his chest sucking her thumb. “My little baby, go to sleep quickly,” he sang softly, “sleep, dreaming sweet dreams.”

“Keep going,” Korra encouraged as she tried to close the door softly. “I like it.”

She also liked the pink his cheeks turned. “It’s nothing really, just something my dad would sing to Bo and I to get us to go to sleep.”

“You can teacher her to sing it when she’s older,” Korra suggested as she perched on the edge of the couch where his feet were.

“If she ever has a little brother I can teach her the version I sang to Bo when he was scared at night.”

Korra raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I just changed it to little brother,” Mako admitted.

“I was more wondering when we decided to have another kid and that it was going to be a boy,” Korra teased.

“Maybe in a few years,” Mako admitted with a yawn.

“Go to sleep,” Korra whispered. Soon all she could hear was the soft chorus of Mako and her baby’s deep breaths as they slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The throat singing duets contest is a real thing. The little bit of a lullaby that Mako sings in from the Northeastern Cradle Song which is a Chinese folk song.


	3. Winter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might go back and add a few sections to this but I wanted to post something today.

The first day it snows she feels a little like she’s home. It’s not the bone biting cold of the South Pole but it’s a comfort nonetheless.

 

Last year at this time it there had been snow on the ground and Mako was hers.

 

She’s not particularly bothered about this, or so she tells herself everyday. It’s the quiet moments where she’s alone with her thoughts that she sometimes imagines how everything could have been different. Even though she does this she’s well aware that they both need this time apart and she’s not really ready for a full-blown relationship yet.

 

When he knocks on her door she’s not surprised. He’s still her friend, even if it feels weird sometimes.

 

“Uh, I know your silly party isn’t for a few days but I wanted to give you this now,” he says awkwardly as he shoves a brightly wrapped box at her. 

 

It’s true, her birthday party isn’t for a few days and Asami has graciously offered her mansion as the venue. The invitation instructed people to donate to charity instead of giving her gifts. She eyed the package in her hands warily. “You really didn’t have to,” she beings.

 

“I wanted to,” he tells her and smiles his silly crooked smile. “Just open it.”

 

She tears the paper eagerly and gasps. He got her a blue scarf. “I made it,” he adds. 

 

“How?” She asks.

 

“I started learning when we were still, you know,” she waved her hand in understanding. They still weren’t ready to talk about their time dating. “I thought you’d like it.”

 

She kisses his cheek without thinking. “I love it,” she said honestly. 

She wore it all winter.


	4. Holiday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided "holiday" meant vacation for this prompt.

Mako fingered the fraying edge of his scarf as he stared up at the impressive building. Apparently this was where he and Korra were going to stay on their “vacation.” It reminded him of Asami’s mansion but green. To try to ease his nerves he began to count the badgermole statues he could find.

He jumped as Korra threw her arm around his shoulder. “Ready to check in?” She asked happily.

“Uh, sure.” He still wasn’t entirely convinced he wanted to be here. Korra trailed her hand from his shoulder, across his back, and then down his arm where she grabbed his hand. “Come on,” she said as she began to pull him forward. The two men standing by the doors quickly opened them. Mako muttered a “thank you” as he was dragged inside.

The receptionist beamed at them, her too bright smile making Mako feel a little uncomfortable. “Do you have a reservation?”

“It’s under Avatar Korra,” Korra supplied as she let go of Mako’s hand to rest both her arms on the counter.

The receptionist ran her finger over the open bag of the book in front of her. “Here we are, you two have a suite on the top floor.” She turned away and busied herself looking for a key. Once found she handed it to Korra along with a brochure. “Everything you want can be charged to your room. Just go up the stairs to the top floor and you’re in the Jade Suite. Enjoy your stay!”

Korra grabbed Mako again and pulled him towards the stairs. “I want to see what this looks like.”

“What about our things?” He asked.

“I’ll send them to your room!” The receptionist called after them. Mako swallowed hard as Korra began dragging him up the stairs. He tripped a few times as he followed Korra. Once they reached the top floor Korra hopped excitedly from foot to foot as she unlocked the door to their suite. 

“This is amazing,” she said as she walked into the room. 

“It sure is,” he agreed as he peaked inside. The room was done in varying shades of green (as everything else in the Earth Kingdom was); even the table was made from a green crystal. He gulped and imagined all the ways the room could be destroyed by them. He could see the bedroom through another set of doors; the bed looked bigger than the main room of his first apartment.

Korra ran into the bedroom and jumped on the bed. She landed on her back and giggled as she held the brochure above her head. “Let’s see, we can have a spa treatment if you want, it’s not really my thing. Or we can go down to the beach and see the place where the invasion force gathered before the Day of Black Sun. Oh look they say we can have food brought up to our room! Let’s do that!”

Mako grunted as he watched her jump up and look around for something. There was a cough behind him and he turned to see a bellhop with their bags. “Where would you like these, sir?” He asked with a smile. Mako was beginning to hate all the staff smiles.

“Just by the door,” he said.

“Very good,” the bellhop looked at him a little expectantly. 

Mako felt his cheeks go pink as he realized he needed to give the man a tip. “Oh uh,” he pulled out his very battered wallet. He pulled out a few yuans and handed them over. “Thank you for bringing the bags up.”

“Always my pleasure, sir.” With that the man left and closed the doors behind him. 

“I found the menu and decided what I want, here you choose now,” Korra said and she thrust the paper into his hands before she flopped on the couch. He cringed as she propped her feet, with her shoes still on, on the table.

He paced as he looked over the menu. “Uh, I guess I’ll have some dumplings and steamed vegetables.” Those were two of the least expensive items on the menu. 

“Didn’t you say you were hunger on our way over here?”

“I’m not anymore,” he told her.

She eyed him. “Fine, but I’m getting a lot so if you want more just ask. Relax while I order.” 

Mako perched on the edge of the chair across from the sofa while Korra ordered the food. As she ticked off items he tried to mentally calculate the bill. He gulped and wondered if maybe Beifong could give him an advance when he got back.

As soon as she hung up the phone Korra disappeared into the bedroom only to reappear and shove the brochure into his hands. “I’m going to shower. Pick out something to do tomorrow.”

He already had: going to the beach because it was free. He did look over other activities but quickly discarded the whole thing. The more he looked the more he felt out of place.

He didn’t hear Korra come back into the room. “So what are we doing tomorrow?” She asked as she bent the last remaining water from her hair.

“Beach,” Mako grunted. 

Korra opened her mouth to say something when there was a knock at the door. She opened the door and a different hotel employee wheeled a cart in. Korra thanked him and handed him a tip before Mako could offer. Mako began to get up but Korra rushed over and shoved him back down. “Alright Tough Guy, you’re going to tell me what’s up.”

“No-nothing’s wrong-” he stuttered.

“That’s a load of ostrich-horse poop! You’ve been acting weird since we got here. This is supposed to our vacation, we can relax a little!”

Mako jumped up. “You want to know what’s wrong? Fine! How are we paying for this? I thought we were going somewhere completely different that I had planned a budget for and-” Korra laughed.

“Weren’t you listening to the Earth Queen when she good-bye? This,” she gestured to the room, “is all on her as a thank you gift to us.”

“I, uh, wait what?” He really hadn’t been listening; he’d learned how to tune out mindless bureaucratic chatter once he started dating Korra again.

She punched his arm. “You know, the help we gave her a few years ago and the stuff we did recently. She wants us to have a vacation, a real one, so she’s paying for it.”

Mako fell back into the chair. “Oh, well, maybe we can do some other things after going to the beach tomorrow.”

“That’s what I thought. Are you hungry? I got like half the menu.”

His stomach growled. “Let’s eat.”

She quickly kissed him before taking the metal covers off the food. He eagerly grabbed a plate and filled it, determined to enjoy his fully paid for time off.


	5. Reminisce

It’s been four years since she first came to Republic City and a year that she’s been gone. The sharp smell of iron still hangs of on the breeze. _This is home_ , she admits, even though she still yearns for the South Pole at times. Everything just feels right when she’s here.

Her friends greet her at the dock. Asami hugs her and promises to catch up at dinner tonight. Bolin claps her on the back and apologizes for not being able to make it, he has a movers shoot tonight and can’t postpone it; he offers, however, to show her around set and maybe even let her have a cameo.

She notices Mako standing a little apart from their group. He’s dressed just as she remembers him; the sight punches a little hole in her gut. They’ve been able to maintain a somewhat friendship over the years but it blurs into familiar comforts that neither is really willing to face.

“Korra,” he whispers and soon she’s in his arms and breathing in his scent that she misses and pretends to forget. “I missed you,” he admits.

“I missed you too,” she confirms. “Did you get my postcards?”

She feels him nod because she won’t let him go yet. “They’re on our wall.” It’s a silly thing they started doing: collecting postcards of places they’ve been or want to go and pinning them one of his apartment walls. 

Too soon she steps away and smiles up at him. “Good, I want to see them again.”

He surprises her with “after dinner.”

She quickly recovers and replies, “Sounds like a plan.”

They walk down the dock and soon Bolin leaves with a quick “see you soon” over his shoulder as he hops into his car. The remaining three pile into Asami’s and she claims the front. She watches the City blur past as they drive to the most amazing new fusion restaurant, or so Asami claims.

They talk about their lives over sea prunes crusted in fire flakes. 

Sooner than she would like the meal ends and Asami offers to drop them off at Mako’s apartment. She almost asks to be taken to the ferry; she wants to take Mako up on his invitation but hesitates in case he’s changed his mind.

“Thanks Asami,” Mako says with a smile. She wonders if they’ve started dating again. She ignores the boiling hurt the thought brings.

She takes the backseat this time and he joins her. They keep talking and it flows into reminiscing. Together they laugh at how headstrong and young they both were (four years have given them both perspective). 

He gets out of the car first and offers her his hand. Her fingers tangle with his and its right. He waves goodbye to Asami. 

He doesn’t let go of her hand and she doesn’t remind him too.

Inside his apartment she immediately goes to their wall. She traces her fingers over the oldest ones: silly pictures of the sites around Republic City. Next her fingers find the ones from the South Pole. Then she’s touching the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation and all the places she’s seen since leaving her sheltered life.

His hand covers her’s and guides it. “Here,” he says as their hands rest on a picture of the capital city of the Fire Nation. “I want to go here with you.”

“You promised me once that you’d follow me anywhere.”

She feels his body move closer, his heat searing her back. His voice is in her ear when he says “I want to keep that promise.”

“How?” she asks before holding her breath.

“I want to try to be us again.”

She wants this; she wants it so much it aches. “But what if we’re the same as before. What if we don’t listen to each other and just stop working.”

He wraps his arms around her and pulls her against him. She turns in his arms to look him in the eyes. “I can’t do that again, I’ve told you how much it hurt.”

He rests his forehead against her’s. “I know. But remember before that? Remember our first date?”

She laughs. “You were so nervous you set the table on fire.”

“You bent the tea from the table next to us to put it out. And when you first came to visit me at the station.”

“I can still hear Beifong yelling about how ‘girlfriends’ should leave their ‘pets’ at home or outside.”

“When you kissed me goodbye.” He leans down and softly places his lips on hers. She almost calls it a kiss but it’s too sweet and too innocent. She pulls back and rubs her nose against his. “No more goodbyes,” she pleads.

“Korra,” he sighs her name. “I can’t promise that.” She nods even if that’s what she desperately wants. “I’ll be here when you get back and I’ll try to go with you. You can tell me all of your problems and adventures.”

“You better do the same,” she tells him before she leans up to kiss him. She puts all of her hunger and desire into that kiss and soon his hands are in her hair and she’s clutching at his shoulders.

They’re breathing is ragged as they move apart. “I’ll try to remember not to get mad at you when you don’t do what I want this time,” she tells him.

“And I’ll try to talk to you about how I feel,” he says.

She kisses him again and hopes that years later they’ll remember this as their new beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretending I'm not getting sick. Nope, not happening.


	6. Spirits

Mako wasn’t sure he made the right decision but, well, it was too late now. Actually it wasn’t really. He could easily turn around and leave the Spirit World and go back to the North Pole. 

No, he told himself firmly. He’d come this far and, well, he needed advice. Bolin wasn’t any help, especially because he’d just decided to visit his kind of girlfriend (really Mako would never understand Bolin and Eska’s relationship and he never really wanted to) and was currently spending most of his time with her or talking about her. Asami was back in Republic City having passed up the opportunity to travel in favor of working (or, as he more accurately calls it, avoiding him). That left Korra and she was the reason he needed advice.

Originally he sought comfort in anonymous brooding at a tea shop. The too helpful waiter, however, told him he was in the wrong one.

“The wrong what?” Mako had asked.

“Tea shop,” he said. “You need to talk to someone. Head to the Spirit World and go to the Jasmine Dragon, there are signs once you enter. If you can’t find them, he’ll find you.”

“Uh thanks but I haven’t had the best luck with spirits.”

“Nonsense, give it a try. This cup is on me.”

Mako left shortly after with the intention of not following the man’s advice. Curiosity, a long suppressed emotion, got the better of him. After entering the Spirit World, he did, in fact, see signs for the Jasmine Dragon.

He found the place easily. Once inside he took a seat a few tables away from some fairly annoyed looking monkeys. A mushroom even smiled at him. He fidgeted in his chair, convincing himself that he wasn’t meant to be there, that he should go, that this whole thing was stupid and maybe he could call Tenzin and ask him for advice but that was just weird and-he jumped as his thoughts were interrupted by a teapot being set down on his table.

“You look troubled,” a kind voice said. Mako looked up. The elderly man in old fashioned Earth Kingdom clothes was smiling down, while his honey colored eyes appeared to be assessing him. “Most people who come here are.”

Mako shrugged. “I guess. But its not really important.”

“If it weren’t important that you wouldn’t be here. Why not have a cup of tea with an old man?” He said as he sat down.

“What about the rest of your customers?” Mako eyes the mushroom suspiciously.

“They come here knowing full well that I sometimes talk with them, and sometimes talk with other customers. Now what isn’t important?”

Mako swallowed hard and accepted the cup of tea he was offered. “Not a what, a she. She’s, well, she’s amazing and important and, maybe calling her not important is why she calls me an idiot.”

“Ah,” the man said, “the trails of young infatuation.”

Mako’s fingers tightened around the cup. “It’s more than that. I love her and she knows that. We even dated for awhile before we both messed things up and I kind of pretended we were still together after she couldn’t remember we broke up while ignoring the girl I was kind of seeing, who I had dated before me and the girl I love got together but that’s besides the point and now-”

“Slow down!” the man sounded flustered. “Take a sip of tea and give me some names because your excessive use of pronouns is not helping.”

Mako took a deep breath. “I’m in love with Korra and the other girl is Asami.”

“Korra as in the Avatar?”

Mako looked down into his cup. “Yes. We broke up almost a year ago and we’ve been kind of friends but she’s been busy and I miss her. I know when things went wrong with us and I want to try again. I’m not new at my job anymore and I’ve watched her grow too.”

“What about Asami?”

“We broke up, again. We’ve also been avoiding each other which is hard because Korra and my brother want all of us to be friends. I feel like I should make things right with her before trying anything with Korra again.”

“You are much more perceptive than most people who come here asking for relationship advice.”

“At least I have that going for me,” Mako said darkly.

“What you should do is exactly what you think you should do: talk things over with Asami before pursuing Korra again.”

“And then what?”

The man chuckled. “You young people have to make everything complicated. Ask Korra out, make her dinner, tell her you still love her again and say you want to try dating again. It’s not that hard.”

Mako sighed. “You’re right.”

“I generally am.”

Mako finished his tea in one gulp. “How much for the tea?”

The man smiled. “On the house with the condition you and Korra come visit sometime.”

Mako nodded. “I will, thank you, uh, I don’t know your name.”

“Iroh.” 

Mako felt his neck warm. “Oh,” cough, “well, I’ve met your namesake and he’s a pretty good firebender.”

“My nephew has brought my great grandnephew to visit a few times. He too has had a few problems with the ladies.”

“Really?”

“There seems to be an heiress that doesn’t know he exists.”

Mako snorted. “I think I might know who that is. I’ll try to help him out with that.”

“Good, and remember to bring Korra back here. The frogs want to hear about her journey to return the dragonbird.”

Mako assumed Korra would know all about this. First, however, he had ask her out again.

Iroh watched the boy leave and laughed a little. “At least he’s not as bad as my nephew was.”


	7. Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Companion piece to "Spirits"

Korra needed someone to talk to. Her options, however, weren’t good. She’d already tried calling Asami but only got her secretary. While she knew the green eyed girl would call her back Korra wasn’t really sure how to really go about asking advice from her. 

She could ask Eska but she didn’t really want or need advice from her cousin. Not to mention she seemed to be attached to Bolin’s face recently (which also counted Bolin out). Her aunt was also out of the questions, Korra knew exactly where the twins sparkling personalities came from.

She could call her mom...or go see her. It didn’t matter that Korra was currently in the North Pole, she could just trek across the between the Spirit portals and in no time flat she’d be home. She had just enough time to get there and back too.

Right before Korra reached the door to leave the room she’d been given she heard a deep feminine voice say “or you could talk to me.” Korra froze instantly. She couldn’t be hearing what she thought she was. Maybe it was a trick.

“Raava?” she asked hesitantly. 

“Yes, Korra and you’re desperately looking for someone to talk to about your upcoming date with Mako.” 

Korra felt her cheeks heat up. “How did you know about-”

“I’m part of you,” Raava said simply.

“Does that mean you know what I’m thinking all the time?”

Raava laughed at Korra’s uneasy tone. “No but I do know what you’re thinking when you connect with me.”

“Good. I mean not that I wouldn’t mind if you knew what I was thinking, there are just somethings that I’m not sure I want to share with the Spirit of Light.”

“Are you going to ask what I think about your date?”

Korra bit her lip. “I guess but I’m not sure what you have to say about-”

“I’ve lived within the Avatar for over 10,000 years now. I’ve watched all of you try and sometimes fail to find love. Trust me when I tell you that the problems you have are actually rather tame compared to past Avatars.”

Korra sat down on her bed as she listened to Raava talk. “I thought my connection to the past Avatars had been severed.”

“It has but that doesn’t take away my memories.”

Korra thought about this, it made sense since she’d found Raava after they’d lost their connection. “Ok so who had it worse than I do?”

“Recently Kyoshi’s love wouldn’t admit her feelings.”

“Kyoshi wouldn’t admit she loved someone?”

“No, the woman Kyoshi loved wouldn’t admit she felt the same way.”

“Oh...oh! At least Mako says he loves me.”

“He still has his face too. Koh took Kurkuk’s fiancée’s face. That’s why Koh hates the Avatar: Kurkuk set out to kill him for that.”

Korra was intrigued by these stories. “What about others?”

“Well a few more Avatars back an Air Nomad fell in love with a lady in the Fire Nation court. They ran away to the Earth Kingdom to get married. A few years later and after the birth of their daughter, her parents decided to throw them a huge wedding. They decided having the Avatar as a son-in-law was worth it. He as one of the few Nomads to marry too. Not to mention there were a few Avatars who never found love.”

“So what do I do about my date with my ex-boyfriend whom I still love?”

“Go and enjoy yourself.”

“Like it’s that simple.”

Korra could hear Raava sigh. “It is. Don’t over think it.”

Korra did just that. When Mako picked her up she didn’t think twice about holding his hand as they walked to the restaurant. She didn’t have to worry about how loud her laugh was as Mako recounted a practice interrogation Lin made him do. She told her own stories without having to hold anything back. It felt good, better than when they first dated.

She excused herself to go to the bathroom, to which Mako told her to not go snooping around. She stuck her tongue out at him. Once she was inside the bathroom Korra whispered “thank you Raava.”

~*~*~

“You want to know something kind of funny,” Mako asked as they left the restaurant hand in hand. Korra nodded. “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to ask you out again,” Korra lightly punched his arm. “Not because I don’t like you but because I didn’t want us to be a mess again.”

Korra pouted. “That’s not that funny.”

“No, what’s funny is I went all the way to Iroh’s tea shop in the Spirit World and he told me to ask you out again.” Korra laughed so hard she had to stop walking. “Oh come on it wasn’t that funny.”

“No,” she choked out through her laughter. “See I was worried about this date and ended up talking to Raava about it.”

Mako put his free hand on his chin. “So if this doesn’t work again we can just blame the spirits?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”


End file.
